Oliver Hoover
Oliver D. Hoover, MA
Adjunct Curator
Oliver D. Hoover began work for the ANS as a Curatorial Assistant in 2000 and is presently an Adjunct Curator and Managing Editor of the American Journal of Numismatics. He specializes in the coinage of the Seleucid Empire and the Hellenistic Near East but has researched and written on a very wide variety of numismatic subjects ranging from finds of Yemeni coins in North America to Colonial American coins and paper money. He has written or edited 17 books, the most important of which are Seleucid Coins, Part 2 (with A. Houghton and C. Lorber) and the Handbook of Greek Coinage series (presently 11 volumes), and 62 articles (not including numerous book reviews). In recognition for this work, he received the Burnett Anderson Award for Excellence in Numismatic Writing in 2020. He is currently completing a study of the Indian Peace Medals in the ANS Collection.
Research
Although he specializes in the coinage of the Seleucid Empire, the Nabataean Kingdom, and the Hellenistic Near East, Oliver Hoover‘s numismatic research interests are very broad. In addition to ancient subjects, he is especially interested in and has written about Indian Peace Medals, the intersection of coins and medals with literature and cultural practices, and finds of unexpected coins (e.g., khamsiya of Qasimid Yemen in New England, English East India Company pice in New England and Utah).
He has written or edited 17 books including, Coins of the Seleucid Empire in the Collection of Arthur Houghton, Part II (American Numismatic Society, 2007), Seleucid Coins, A Comprehensive Catalogue: Seleucus IV-Antiochus XIII (with A. Houghton and C. Lorber) (American Numismatic Society, 2008), Mark Newby’s St. Patrick Coinage (American Numismatic Society, 2009), Coin Hoards X: Greek Hoards (with A. Meadows and U. Wartenberg) (American Numismatic Society, 2015), 11 volumes in the Handbook of Greek Coinage Series (Classical Numismatic Group, 2009-2018), and The Royal Nabataean Collection of Uri Aka-Mizrahi (Numismatica Genevensis, 2020). He is currently working to complete a long-forthcoming study of the Indian Peace Medals in the ANS collection, the proceedings of the recent ANS “Coinage of the Roman Provinces before Provincial Coinage: The Richard B. Witschonke Collection” conference (with L. Carbone and L. Yarrow), and the twelfth volume in the Handbook Series (Northwestern Anatolia).
Some recent articles and chapters include:
“Coins and Authenticity in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood and the Ballad Tradition.” ANS Magazine 1 (2021): 6-19.
“The Beginning of the End or the End of the Beginning? Seleucid Coinage and the Roman Provincial Paradigm.” In New Perspectives in Seleucid History, Archaeology and Numismatics: Studies in Honor of Getzel M. Cohen, edited by Roland Oetjen, 765-776. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020.
“An Obodas before Obodas I? The Implications of a New Nabataean Coin Type.” In Dinars and Dirhams. Festschrift in Honor of Michael L. Bates, edited by Touraj Daryaee, Judith A. Lerner, with Virginie C. Rey, 139-150. Irvine: Jordan Center for Persian Studies, 2020.
“A Necessary Evil: Alexandrine Coinages and the Tension of Personal Kingship in the Seleucid Empire.” In Les alexandres après Alexandre: Histoire d’une monnaie commune, edited by Sophia Kremydi and Marie-Christine Marcellesi, 133-145. Athens: Fondation national de recherche scientifique/Institut de recherche historiques, 2019.
“The Sincerest form of Flattery: Imitation and Counterfeit Coins in the Seleucid Empire.” In Greek and Roman Coins Seen through their Images: Noble Issuers, Humble Users? Proceedings of the International Conference Organized by the Belgian and French Schools at Athens, 26-28 September 2012, edited by P.P. Iossif, F. de Callataÿ and R. Veymiers, 255-268. Liège: Presses Universitaires de Liège, 2018.
